Jessica Moramarco says it was important for her to bring her two children, "It's very important for them to understand what everybody goes through in order to keep us living in the country we live in."

Her son, 6-year-old Gabriel clutched an American flag in one hand and a note he wrote for his step-father Jamie who is marching in the parade.

He shared what he wrote, "Thank you for giving lots of honor to this country, thank you for being a good veteran, thank you God for protecting Jamie when he was overseas. Thank you James Chapman III."

It's notes like this, whether it's from a loved one or even from a stranger that veterans say remind them their country is standing behind them.

Timothy Brown, a 23-year-old Army veteran tells us he was nearly brought to tears after waking from surgery here at the hospital to find a picture colored for him by a 4-year-old girl he doesn't even know, thanking him for his service.

"It's good to know people still care, sometimes you wonder, but it's good to know people still care about us, all we do and all we've done," he said with a smile.